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The Syntax of Temporal Interpretation in Embedded Clauses University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2010 The Syntax of Temporal Interpretation in Embedded Clauses Gustavo Ariel Guajardo The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Guajardo, Gustavo Ariel, "The Syntax of Temporal Interpretation in Embedded Clauses" (2010). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 1092. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1092 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SYNTAX OF TEMPORAL INTERPRETATION IN EMBEDDED CLAUSES By GUSTAVO ARIEL GUAJARDO B.A. in English, Joaquín V. González, Bs As, Argentina Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics, General Linguistics Option The University of Montana Missoula, MT May 2010 Approved by: Perry Brown, Associate Provost for Graduate Education Graduate School Dr. Leora Bar-el Linguistics Dr. Tully Thibeau Linguistics Dr. Naomi Shin Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Guajardo, Gustavo, MA in Linguistics, Spring 2010 Linguistics The Syntax of Temporal Interpretation in Embedded Clauses Chairperson: Dr. Leora Bar-el In this thesis I argue that verbs in embedded clauses are temporally interpreted by being bound to the temporal arguments of AspP and VP in the matrix clause. I build up this claim by proposing that (i) Reichenbach‟s relation of association can be expressed in terms of Binding Theory in the syntax, (ii) Tense is subject to different binding principles depending on its syntactic realization so that T in main clauses must be free (i.e., subject to Principle B) but in embedded clauses T must be bound (i.e., subject to Principle A), (iii) the Spanish present subjunctive is a tenseless form which behaves syntactically very similar to an infinitive and (iv) (non)- finiteness can be defined in terms of binding. This thesis aims to contribute to linguistic theory by presenting a solution to the problem of the Spanish subjunctive and the violation of the rule of concordantia temporum, by establishing another parallel across domains, namely between the nominal and the temporal domain, which are argued in this thesis to be subject to the same syntactic principles of Binding Theory, and by providing empirical evidence that natural language makes use of syntactic relations to arrive at semantic interpretations. Finally, the findings and proposals in this thesis predict that cross-linguistically languages should prefer to use syntactic configurations over morphological systems for semantic interpretation. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis grew out of a paper I wrote for a graduate seminar on Tense and Aspect Systems taught by Dr. Leora Bar-el, who later, and to my great fortune, agreed to be my thesis supervisor. To her go my deepest gratitude and thanks. I cannot put into words how much I have learned from the discussions and meetings with Dr. Leora Bar-el during this process. Her questions and comments always made me keep thinking about and questioning my arguments as well as helping me build up a better analysis and stronger arguments. Although I came away from most meetings with a headache, this work could never have materialized without her insights and hard work. I would like to thank Dr. Tully Thibeau, who instilled in me the passion for syntax and who also agreed to read an earlier draft of the analysis in this thesis and gave me great feedback and insightful comments, without which I would not have been aware of some of the implications of my analysis in the broader picture of syntactic theory. I would also like to thank Dr. Naomi Shin, the Spanish specialist on the thesis committee, whose questions and feedback were very helpful in helping me understand the magnitude of the changes that the Spanish in Argentina is going through. I must also thank Dr. Irene Appelbaum and Dr. Mizuki Miyashita both of whom contributed to my development as a linguist and as a critical thinker. My sincere gratitude goes to everyone in the Linguistics program, who believed in me and awarded me a teaching assistantship for two consecutive years, without which my passion for Linguistics could never have taken off. I will always be grateful and highly indebted to the faculty in the Linguistics program at the University of Montana for giving me the opportunity to become a linguist. I have to mention the other graduate iii students in the Linguistics program, who provided me with their feedback at different talks where I presented earlier versions of this thesis. A special thanks goes to my friend and colleague Scott Sterling, with whom I traveled to the Linguistics Association of the South West Conference 2009, where I also presented a preliminary version of the analysis in this thesis. I must acknowledge Miranda McCarvel, who has always helped me in so many different aspects of my life in Montana, not just academically but also personally. This work could never have happened without the existence of Melissa Mackenzie and her family, Jim Burchfield and Alex Burchfield, who became my second family and who assisted me in every aspect of my life and helped me feel at home in such a desolate place as Montana. I cannot forget my best friends Francisco Kuhar and Marina Sztein whose support and encouragement throughout my studies in Montana helped me through those grey and snowy winter days. Last, but not least, I thank my family back home in Argentina. My parents, my sister, my grandmother and late grandfather, all of whom have always supported me and understood my desire to leave Argentina in search of my dreams. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii List of Abbreviations iv Section 1: Introduction 1 Section 2: The Spanish Present Subjunctive 3 2.1. Concordantia Temporum 3 2.2. The Present Subjunctive in Argentinean Spanish 5 2.3. Previous Accounts of Violations of Concordantia Temporum 7 Section 3: Time and Language 14 3.1. Tensed and Tenseless Languages 14 3.2. Reichenbach‟s Theory of Tense 18 3.3. Hornstein‟s Neo-Reichenbachian Theory of Tense 22 3.4. Sequence of Tense (SOT) 25 Section 4: The Syntactic Realization of Tense 30 4.1. The Internal Structure of TP and AspP 30 4.2. The Tense Structure of Infinitival Clauses 35 4.3. The Syntactic Structure of Infinitival Clauses 37 Section 5: A Tenseless Subjunctive in Argentinean Spanish 45 5.1. The Analysis 45 5.2. Temporal Adjunct Clauses 55 Section 6: Finiteness 58 6.1. Non-Finite forms cross-linguistically 58 6.2. Finiteness and Binding 64 Section 7: Theory Extension 66 7.1. Language Change driven by Economy Conditions 66 7.2. Language Change and the Conjunctive Marker in New Blackfoot 68 7.2.1 The Conjunctive and the –ááhk- Marker in Blackfoot. 69 7.3. Summary 74 Section 8: Implications 75 8.1. Parallels across Domains 75 8.2. Economy and Language Change 76 8.3. Language Change in Spanish 79 v Section 9: Conclusion 81 9.1. Summary 81 9.2. Issues for Further Research 83 References 86 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1: first person 2: second person 3: third person acc: accusative AnimP: animate pronoun Clitic: clitic pronoun Cond: conditional conj: conjunctive mood dat: dative Det: determiner dir: direct participant dur: durative marker EMB: embedding marker fem: feminine Fut: future Imp: imperfect aspect INA: intransitive animate inchoat: inchoative marker Ind: indicative Inf: infinitive masc: masculine NOMIN: nominative vii Past: past PastPart: past participle pl: plural Plup: pluperfect Pret: preterite pro: null subject Prs: present PrsPart: present participle PrsPerf: present perfect reflex: reflexive pronoun sg: singular Subj: subjunctive viii 1. INTRODUCTION In this thesis I discuss the role of tense in embedded clauses. I propose that tense in embedded clauses does not contribute to the temporal interpretation of the proposition and I use the current development of the Spanish subjunctive to support my proposal.1 I argue that the modern Argentine Spanish subjunctive (but predictably other dialects as well) lacks tense, which accounts for its wide and unlimited distribution in embedded clauses independent of the tense of the main clause. Furthermore, I propose that the temporal interpretation of embedded clauses is derived through binding and I put forth that the functional category tense shows a dichotomy in its syntactic behavior between main and embedded clauses. While tense in embedded clauses must be bound, in main clauses it must be free. The proposal of this thesis has numerous implications for linguistic theory. First, it accounts for the cross-linguistic phenomenon that tenseless forms only occur in embedded clauses but not in main clauses. Second, it predicts that languages should evolve such that tense is lost in embedded forms since tense is semantically vacuous in this environment. Third, it provides further evidence of current claims on the syntax- semantics interface that syntax determines interpretation and not the other way around (Borer 1994, 2005; Marantz 1996, 1997, Harley 1995 among others). Fourth, it provides an answer to an unresolved issue in the Spanish literature on the distribution of subjunctives and the (in)applicability of concordantia temporum. The thesis is organized as follows. In §2 I discuss the Spanish present subjunctive, the concept of concordantia temporum, and I illustrate the current usage of the present 1 For the present purposes, the term embedded clause is restricted to desiderative clauses and embedded commands.
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